Experts: Specializing in one sport at early age may not be good for kids

July 22,2016 11:24

DENVER -- If your kids are involved in sports, you know there can be pressure to have them specialize in one sport at an early age. Nicole Elliott, a mom, said, “I think kids are being told they won't be good enough. I think they're being told there ...

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DENVER -- If your kids are involved in sports, you know there can be pressure to have them specialize in one sport at an early age.Nicole Elliott, a mom, said, Â â€œI think kids are being told they won't be good enough.Â I think they're being told there won't be a spot on the team.Â They can't take a season off.â€But many doctors now say donâ€™t buy into that.Â Just wait. â€œThere aren't studies showing sports specialization leads to greater success. What we do know is it leads to greater rates of burn-out in adolescent athletes. We know it leads to increased risk of overuse injuries,â€ said Dr. Greg Canty, a sports medicine specialist.Thatâ€™s something Nicole Elliottâ€™s family had to learn the hard way.Her daughter Katie is rehabbing after she tore her ACL playing soccer.Â Before that, sheâ€™d also suffered a stress fracture twice in her other leg, and sheâ€™s just 14.â€œI realized wow, I'm putting a lot of stress on my bones and my muscles,â€ Katie said.Â Katie doesnâ€™t know if sheâ€™ll play soccer again.Â She had played eight months of the year, running track along with soccer in the spring.Â Experts say if you participate more than eight months in a sport and exclude other sports, thatâ€™s specialization.Â They say there is a better way.Consider this story.Riley Pint played baseball three months in the summer, then heâ€™d take time off before starting the basketball season.As he grew older, he played more baseball, becoming a star pitcher at his high school.Â It wasnâ€™t until his senior year that Riley just played baseball.College coaches and pro scouts had been watching. â€œThey loved the fact that Riley played multiple sports just 'cause they knew he wasn't throwing year-round, was using other muscles of his body,â€ Neil Pint said of his son.In fact Rileyâ€™s name was the fourth called at this yearâ€™s major league baseball draft by the Colorado Rockies.